Two Legislators Want To Increase Jobless Benefits

TALLAHASSEE — Florida`s unemployed may get a boost in benefits on Oct. 1, the first increase in three years.

Two Broward County lawmakers are racing against the clock to get the change approved before the Legislature adjourns May 31.

Proponents of legislation to raise unemployment benefits say the state has the third most solvent unemployment compensation fund in the nation -- worth $1.3 billion -- yet it is 35th among the states in the maximum level of benefits.

``Why should a family have to live, or try to live, on $150 a week? If you`re unemployed two months, three months or six months, it could wipe out a family`s savings. It`s too much hardship on people,`` said Rep. Jack Tobin, D- Margate, House sponsor of the legislation (HB 430).

Increasing the maximum weekly benefit from $150 to $200 won`t take a penny out of anyone`s pocket, except for the already amply endowed trust fund, proponents argue. (Employer payroll taxes, which subsidize the fund, would not be increased.)

``It would take 100 percent unemployment in Florida for 38 months to take the fund to zero,`` said state AFL-CIO Vice President Lou Brogna. ``And we`re not going to have that.``

``That fund really only needs $500 million to keep it solvent,`` said Sen. Jim Scott, R-Fort Lauderdale, sponsor of the Senate legislation (CS for SB 660).

But an economist warns that higher unemployment benefits inevitably encourage more abuse of the system. The state`s major business lobby, Associated Industries Inc., is arguing against such a major increase.

``If you raise the unemployment benefit rate, you will get an increase in unemployment,`` predicted Dr. Charles Rockwood, a professor of economics at Florida State University. ``People who get a high unemployment rate, or a higher one, may increase their searching time before they get another job.

``Encouraging some people (to stay on unemployment) versus being fair to people in need -- like any other judgment, you have to strike a balance,`` Rockwood said.

Currently, Florida`s unemployment rate is about 6 percent, one of the lowest in the nation.

Both Scott and Tobin have moved their unemployment benefit proposals through commerce committees in both houses.

But a delay cropped up in the Senate Monday. An attempt was made to drag Scott`s bill into the Senate Appropriations Committee, thus postponing its hearing before the full Senate. That motion was left pending for 24 hours. But Sen. Pat Neal, D-Bradenton, appropriations chairman, said the proposal will drain an extra $22 million yearly from the fund and suggested it must be more fully debated in committee.

``It`s because of some of the business people,`` Scott said of Neal`s move. ``They`re always looking for something to fight the unions over. I think we`ll get it through.``

``Associated Industries is trying everything they can,`` Brogna said.

Tobin anticipates it may be necessary to compromise, perhaps on a $175 or $185 maximum benefit, though the bill already has been weakened. As originally introduced, it would have set the maximum benefit at two-thirds the average statewide weekly wage. That would have been about $204 initially, but it would have gone up automatically each year.